Monday 23 July 2018

Rain


It’s raining gently outside. A moment ago it was pouring down in torrents. The water from the sky is forming large puddles on the road and in my garden. When it last rained properly, in the spring, the rain quickly sank into the earth but today the ground has been baked so hard by months of hot, sunny weather that it’s become as impervious as stone. I need the water to sink deep but it can’t.
         We hear the word of God from many sources: we hear the Bible as it’s read in Church and we study its ancient pages at home. We may have texts on the walls of our homes. But like the rain, it can either enter our soul or it can flow over us and collect elsewhere. It needs to sink deep if it’s to nourish and help the dry areas of a spiritual life, and help the seed of faith to come alive … but can it do so?
      Using the principle of water on my garden, the best way to promote the word of God sinking deeply into a human soul is frequent immersion, to avoid any period of spiritual drought. A sudden experience of God followed by a long time away from Him has the same effect as the rain in my garden today. It does not penetrate and the soul remains arid.
      We all need God, and we need Him deep down in the inner recesses of our spiritual lives. We need Him often. We therefore need to immerse ourselves in God as often and as fully as possible.

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